


A Torn Flannel

by All_I_Want_Is_You



Series: My boys deserve a family [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29543835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_I_Want_Is_You/pseuds/All_I_Want_Is_You
Summary: Reggie had exactly 2 things to remind him of his older brother and one of them just got torn. Can Julie help Reggie feel like he belongs and heal things that have hurt him?
Series: My boys deserve a family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2179323
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	A Torn Flannel

**Author's Note:**

> I definitely don’t own anything here except Sam. I just couldn’t get Reggie out of my head. He’s a cutie pie.  
> Please read and review!

Past (circa 1985)

Reggie hadn't had the best home life before he died. He couldn't really complain, though. It wasn't like they were abusive or anything. And really, his parents hated each other more than him. They would have to pay attention to him for them to have feelings about him, positive or negative.

There were some days that Reggie wished his older brother had stayed. Sam had left the day he turned 18 and hadn't been heard from since. The day before he left, Sam had sat a 7-year-old Reggie down and explained that he was leaving. He wanted Reggie to understand that he wasn't leaving Reggie but he couldn't stay around their parents anymore. Reggie understood. He didn't like living with all the yelling and throwing things, either.

Sam spent the night in Reggie's room, holding him and humming Reggie to sleep. When Reggie woke up in the morning, there was a cold spot where Sam had laid and a note on the pillow. 

Reggie-  
I know you’re just a kid. Maybe when you get older you’ll understand. Mom and Dad - it’s just too much for me. Maybe with me gone, they’ll fight less. I want you to know that I will always love you, even if this doesn’t seem like it. 

I am not as strong as you. That’s why I had to do it this way. You were the only one who would ever be able to convince me to stay. I have to get away and I’m taking the coward’s way out. For that, I’m truly sorry. 

I stashed some of my flannels under your mattress. They are the things that brought me the most comfort here and I want you to have them.

Love you always.  
-Sam

Reggie crumpled the note, a sob working its way out of his throat. Immediately, he uncrumpled the note. It, besides the flannels, was the last thing he had of his brother. He would keep it safe. 

Always.

Present (2020) - After playing at the Orpheum

Reggie had accepted that life sucked sometimes. His parents fought all the time. He was teased mercilessly at school. He died from EPIC food poisoning. Yeah, Reggie could say that he has experienced the shadowy side of life. However, he tried to stay positive and upbeat for his band mates. Alex didn’t need any more negativity in his life and Luke...Luke had a hidden sadness inside. He put on a good face, but Reggie knew that deep down, Luke wasn’t as happy as he put forth.

One part of Reggie’s new life that he genuinely enjoyed was spending time with Ray. He may not know that Reggie was there, but Ray was a spot of light in an otherwise dark afterlife. 

“Hey, Ray,” Reggie paused, even though he knew that Ray wouldn’t hear him and answer. “Had a rough night. Thankfully, ghosts don’t seem to need as much sleep as you lifers, so I was able to get over it pretty quickly. I’ve noticed that Carlos seems to be going through a growth spurt. You may need to get him some new sneakers soon,” Reggie kept up a steady stream of talking, distracting himself from his thoughts.

Julie stumbled into the kitchen at that point, still half asleep with her eyes mostly closed. She stumbled into Reggie, who thankfully was next to the counter, so she could play it off as hitting the edge of the counter itself. After rebounding off of Reggie, Julie went and got a glass from the cupboard and filled it with juice from the refrigerator. 

Ray turned at the sound of his daughter bumbling around and gasped before completing the turn.

“Uh, mija? Am I going crazy or is one of your Swedish band mates standing in our kitchen?” 

Julie, still not quite awake, turned to face the same direction her dad was and mumbled, “Huh? Oh, good morning, Reggie,”

Reggie, however, was staring at Ray with the same amount of awe that Ray was showing Reggie himself.

Julie suddenly seemed to realize what exactly her dad said and what she replied and spun around, dropping her glass to the floor. 

“Oh! Dad, you can see…” Julie trailed off, not sure how much to tell her dad. Sure, he was understanding and accepting of a lot of things, but the thought that there were 3 ghosts from the 1990s living in his garage might be pressing the edge of what he could handle. The fact that his daughter made a band with them and that they weren’t holograms from Sweden might just push him over the edge.

Ray didn’t answer his daughter, instead started to walk towards Reggie. He reached a hand out, not sure what he was expecting. But whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t Reggie spinning away from Ray and the counter and taking off towards the door. Ray’s fingers got caught in the flannel that Reggie always had wrapped around his hips and as Reggie turned, the only thing that was audible in the kitchen was the RIIPPPPP of the flannel caught between them.

Reggie froze for just a moment before continuing out the door, seeming to forget that he could just “poof” out.

“Mija? Is…” Ray didn’t really know what questions to ask, and Julie didn’t really know what answers to give him.

“I’m going to go out to the studio and see what’s going on. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?” Julie checked with her dad.

“Uh, yeah. Later,” Ray turned back to his coffee maker. Maybe he just needed some caffeine. “Carlos tried to warn me, but did I listen? No. This is what I get for not listening to my children,” Julie heard her dad mutter under his breath as he got his coffee ready.

Julie ran out the door and down the path towards the studio. She swung open the doors, not caring if they crashed open and back together behind her.

“Guys! Band meeting! ASAP!” Julie noticed how Luke was in his usual spot on the couch and Alex was laying on the floor playing air drums over his head. Luke bolted upright, hand over his chest like his heart was about to beat out of it. Alex, meanwhile, dropped his sticks with a clatter. 

“Ow, Jules. You said you would stop doing that! That hit my eye this time,” Alex started to complain, until he saw the frantic look on her face.

“Is Reggie here?” Julie asked.

“No. He went inside to hang out with your dad like every morning. I think he just likes to feel useful,” Luke said, confused.

“Yeah, I saw him. And then I saw him run out. Cause, you know, my dad SAW REGGIE!” At this, Alex and Luke both froze and their jaws dropped.

“Come again? I could have sworn you just said Ray saw Reggie,” Alex asked. When Julie just nodded, Alex continued, “Okay. Yeah. Sure. Why not? I mean, Julie can hug us now, why wouldn’t Ray be able to see us. This is fine. This is only a little change. Nothing ghost shattering here. Nope. Just normal ghost business,” Alex’s breathing started to get a little faster and shallower. Alex looked at Luke and poofed away.

“I think he took that rather well, don’t you?” Luke sarcastically asked Julie. Julie just snorted and shook her head.

“Well, if he isn’t here, where would Reggie go? He seemed...scared, almost,” Julie asked.

Luke looked up at the ceiling, as if asking for divine intervention. This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have, but someone needed to tell Julie what was going on and the other band members weren’t there.

“I don’t really think this is my story to tell. But I will because it will explain a lot about why Reggie reacted the way he did this morning. Can you promise me something?” Luke asked.

“Anything,” Julie promised.

“Please let me get this story out before you ask any questions or react,” Julie just nodded, showing Luke that she wasn’t going to interrupt. He nodded and continued,

“None of us really had the best home lives. You know what happened between me and my parents. Alex had it worse, in some ways. But that is completely his story to share when he is ready. Reggie, though… Reggie doesn’t like to talk about it. He says he doesn’t want to talk about ‘the bad’. But we, Alex and I, we could tell it was not okay. I met Reggie when we were 9, so I only know some details from before that. Reggie has, or I guess had, an older brother. He left the day he turned 18. Reggie was only 7. Sam, Reggie’s older brother, protected Reggie as much as he could. When he left, he left Reg alone with their parents. I know there was a lot of yelling. Things got thrown a lot. Sometimes at each other, sometimes at Reggie when he tried to get between his parents to stop fighting,”

Julie gasped at the revelations she was hearing. It was hard for her to imagine Reggie - her fun loving goofball of a friend - living like that.

Luke eyed her, before continuing his story, “By the time we hit our teenage years, he was spending most of his time at my house. From what I know, the only thing Sam left Reggie was a note the morning he left and a pile of his old flannels. Something Sam used to do with Reggie when he was really young and the yelling woke him up was take a plaid flannel, pull it over Reg’s head, hold him tight, and hum songs to him while making him guess what song it was,” Luke looked away from Julie. This story was just too close to what Luke himself had dealt with, only Luke didn’t have a sibling to share the burden with.

“It tore. This morning. His flannel. Dad was reaching towards him and Reggie was trying to get away and it got caught in my dad’s fingers. It ripped,” Julie gasped. Poor Reggie. One of the only reminders of his brother. Torn.

“Luke, can you go find Reggie? I don’t think he should be alone right now. I have something I need to do,” Julie didn’t wait for an answer before running back out the door and heading back towards the kitchen. 

Back in the kitchen, Julie ignored her dad and scooped up the flannel from the floor. She continued up to her room. Once there, Julie grabbed her dream box from the shelf. She took a deep breath and opened it up. She was looking for… There it is! Julie gently picked up the dahlia patch that was one of her mom’s favorites. Julie just looked at it in her hands for a moment, fighting back the tears that wanted to come forth.

She took a deep breath and closed her dream box and put it back. She took the patch and Reggie’s flannel and went over to her sewing kit in the corner.

Julie sat down and got some thread and a needle out of her kit. She could do this. For Reggie. She started by fixing the tear that went through the left sleeve. That was easy enough. The fabric itself wasn’t actually torn, the stitches had just come out. No biggie. Then she had to decide where the patch was going to go. 

Finally, Julie decided to put it on the back left shoulder. She figured that way, it would be seen if Reggie wanted to wear it around his waist or as a regular shirt. That done, Julie folded the shirt and went back down to the studio to put it where Reggie could find it - on top of his bass.

Julie got a surprise, however, when she walked in and found Alex and Luke sitting on either side of Reggie while he just cried.

“Knock, knock,” Julie announced herself. “Um, Reggie, I have this for you. I’ll just leave it here,” Julie went to put the shirt down and turned to leave. She almost reached the door when she spun on her heel and ran to where the boys were sitting. She grabbed Reggie in a hug and put every ounce of strength and love she had into it. “I just want you to know that you will always have a place with me, Reginald Peters. You can’t get rid of us Molinas that easily,” She whispered in his ear.

“Will you stay for a bit, Jules? I think I need my family around for a little while longer,” Reggie asked. 

“Don’t ask stupid questions, Reginald. Of course I’ll stay,” Julie sassed back.

Reggie gave a watery smile and made grabby hands at what Julie was holding.

Julie gently teased him, “Oh, this? I’m not sure you really want this,”

“I do! Pleeeease,” Julie melted at Reggie’s earnest request.

“Alright, alright. Put the puppy dog eyes away,” She relinquished the shirt to Reggie for his inspection. “I tried the best I could on it. The fabric wasn’t torn, it just had some popped stitches that I fixed. And then I thought about how I could show you that you were family. So, I put a patch on the back shoulder. I can take it off if you don’t like it or something. I know a flower might be a little girly for you,” Julie started to ramble.

Reggie’s voice was caught in his throat, so he couldn’t say anything. He dropped the shirt back to the floor and it was his turn to grab Julie in a hug so tight she had to tap his shoulder and remind him that, “Reggie! Need. Breathe.” Oh yeah. Silly lifers.

“Jules, you have no idea…” Reggie trailed off. Luke had already told him that he shared a little bit of his story with Julie and even from the little bit that she heard, she went to all the trouble of fixing his shirt for him. And the patch! He knew that dahlias were her mom’s favorite flower (despite her name being Rose, which Reggie thought was hilarious).

Julie pulled back enough to rest her forehead on Reggie’s and whispered, “All I know is that my mom would’ve LOVED you guys. And my dad will, when we finally tell him the truth. But my truth is that you are the older brother I always wished I had. I love Carlos, but sometimes I just want a brother where I don’t have to try and take over mom duties. At least, not the serious ones,” Julie chuckled.

When their moment was over, thanks to Luke and his impatience, the two pulled away from each other, but still held hands. 

“Alright guys. I guess we have to come up with a story to tell Ray,” Reggie announced.

This was Julie’s family. It was small and broken, but it was hers.

**Author's Note:**

> That last line is inspired by Lilo and Stitch! Also not mine.


End file.
